Just because Minegishi could do something that didn't mean that they wanted to.

"What?" asked Minegishi as they looked over the top of their book. It had sounded like Mob had asked them if they could dye her hair back to black…with less than four hours before they all had to be on a plane to Hong Kong. Stripping all of that red dye out of her hair, bleaching it, would take an hour…and then there was making sure that it actually got back to black on the first try….

"Can you dye my hair back to black?" asked Mob softly.

"Can it wait until we get to Hong Kong?" asked Minegishi

"I….I guess so….sorry…" said Mob. She hung her head and turned to walk away…not good. Minegishi reached out and took her hand. Their bracelet clanked against hers. She didn't lift her head. She still stared down intently at her socks. Minegishi pulled her back.

Nothing good ever happened when Mob had that hangdog expression.

"It's alright, come on. I'll do what I can." Said Minegishi. They didn't let go of Mob's hand. She had been off since coming back from Japan. They didn't know what had happened exactly, Mob hadn't said anything to them, but they knew it must have been bad. She'd come home with a split lip and a black eye….

Fucking Suzuki.

"It's ok, you don't have to. I shouldn't have bothered you." Said Mob softly.

"You're not bothering me, now come on. Let me see what I can do…no promises." Said Minegishi as they led Mb to the bathroom. They kept their hand pressed against her back. She was even walking slowly. She had been off since she had come back from Japan. They could have told her that it would have been a bad idea, confronting Suzuki. Most people didn't deal well with being confronted and Suzuki….well he was worse than most people. If they had been Mob they would have just let it all be.

But they weren't Mob.

To think that this had all started because of Children's Day…fucking Children's Day. They had never seen the point of that holiday. If people had really given a fuck about kids then they would have done more than hang a few streamers and say some nice words. They had no idea what went through Mob's head sometimes. They had assumed that she would have been used to Suzuki and his insanity, insensitivity, and general ineptitude as a father and human being. Apparently she wasn't….maybe that was just how kids were. Minegishi hadn't been that bright when they'd been a kid.

They weren't that bright as an adult either, it seemed.

"Sit there and let me find my tools." Said Minegishi. They pointed to the edge of the bathtub. Mob didn't argue, she had no reason to of course, but they had been half expecting her to. Sometimes it felt like their relationship had been one big argument since December. Mob's fault…and theirs. Mob had been stupid but they had been stupid too for not looking out for her. They may not have asked for a kid to take care of, this hadn't been in the job description at all, but they had Mob and…and they should have done better for her.

Back in December and now, too.

"This box says it's yours." Said Mob as she used her powers to pick up a box marked 'Minegishi bathroom stuff stay out that means you' and put it down at their feet. They forgot, sometimes, how strong she was. It was easy to forget since she was so small…and looking even smaller. She was tucked in on herself like a turtle, or Serizawa when someone breathed in his general direction. Minegishi couldn't wait for Suzuki to get old. Everyone had their time and everyone died. In those last few days when he was a hundred years old and bedridden Minegishi would do…something….

Fill him with seeds?

They could make seeds grow inside of a person. They just didn't like to do that. For real suffering, to feel something growing inside of them cutting off their blood supply and devouring them, it took time that they just didn't have in the middle of battle. In battle they could just make a plant burst right out of someone, fun only if they'd seen any of the Alien movies recently, but that was boring and a waste of perfectly good seeds. They'd have time for that when Suzuki was old, too old to even get up on his own anymore. A person like that would probably make it to a hundred years old just because hell didn't want to deal with him.

Seeds were too good for him, they'd think of something in the fifty years between now and when Suzuki would be too old to move.

Right now they had a job to do. They took the tape off of their bathroom products box and started digging around…all that meticulous packing for nothing. They had Tetrised the hell out of this box. That was the smart way to do it, use as few boxes as possible. That way there was less of a chance of things getting lost. Well now…now they got the feeling that they were going to lose something even if they did get this box re-Tetrised…but that was livable.

Mob needed them, that was what mattered.

"I washed my hair with conditioner before, like you said, so it doesn't get dry and break." Said Mob. Minegishi nodded as they found their bleach and toner. Now all they needed were the gloves….which were in here somewhere. The clock was ticking, they could feel it, and they really did not want to spend this coming plane ride in the bathroom with Mob trying to rinse bleach out of her hair.

"Good work…where the fuck are my gloves in all this…." muttered Minegishi

"I wore an old shirt, too, like you said because…because remember? Last time you made me wear one of your shirts because mine was too nice….remember?" asked Mob

"Huh? Oh yeah, you were wearing that Frozen thing with the snowman on it…you still have that shirt? It was actually really nice." Said Minegishi as they found their gloves. Good, now all they needed was their black dye….if they still even had it. They had gotten a box of black dye from a drugstore several moves ago in case this day came. It may have gotten lost in the many, many, many moves since then…they kept on digging.

"I might have it…I mean I don't know for sure…but I liked that shirt too. I like Olaf even though people think he's annoying. Like….like Olaf can't help being who he is because that's the person who Elsa made him to be and…and I don't like to skip his song even because it's the worst one since he worked hard on it, I mean the movie makers did, and…and it wouldn't be fair to him." said Mob. Minegishi made it to the bottom of the box….yes. There. Black dye…and only three hours and thirty seven minutes to go. None of this was salon quality…it was going to take an hour to bleach her hair and then about half an hour to put it on and then an hour to let it set…and that was if they managed to get it right the first time…

Whatever. If they didn't get this right the first time then they could always just keep it up in the tiny, cramped, bathroom on the plane….yay.

"Ok, I finally found all of my-" said Minegishi

"I mean it's like…like how can you hate someone you made, you know? If I made a person, like if I had ice powers or I had a baby, then I would have loved that person no matter what. Even if they sang boring songs or didn't know that frozen things melted in summer or had red hair or wore clothes or smoked or had fun or had friends or-or-or-I don't know. I just…can you dye my hair back to black, now? We don't have a lot of time before we have to go." Said Mob. Minegishi stood up. Well then this looked like one of their long and emotional talks, alright then. Mob clearly needed it and they were the only one who could reassure her thought whatever this was.

Bring it on.

"What happened? Come on, out with it." Said Minegishi. They put their things down on the bathroom counter and then sat down on the side of the tub beside Mob. There was a strand of their hair stuck to the shower curtain. They glared at it and swiped it away. Mob turned to face them…and wiped her eyed. Some of her makeup came off with it…now that was a shiner…

They didn't glare.

There was no point. Them getting angry wasn't going to fix Mob's eye. Mob would just end up thinking that they were mad at her and then the whole thing would have just turned into a discussion…not the kind that they wanted to be having right now. If anything they wished, right now, that they hadn't been about to have any kind of discussion at all with Mob. They wanted to go back to their book so they could unwind before the inevitable chaos that came with hurdling through the skies with that bunch of idiots…

But Mob needed someone and they were that someone.

"I was watching Frozen today and-" said Mob

"No, I mean with this." said Minegishi as they pointed to her eye. Mob covered her eye and looked down.

"It's getting better. I put makeup over it." Said Mob. Minegishi rolled their eyes and pressed their thumb to the space under her eye. She blinked as they swiped their way across.

"I can see that. I want to know what happened. Just….you can talk to me, ok? I mean I think I'm pretty sure what happened. Your Dad had another temper tantrum and took it out on you, right?" asked Minegishi as they held their thumb up.

"Dad got mad at me." Said Mob

"I figured." Said Minegishi

"Because I just…I just wanted him to come back. I don't want…I don't want Mukai to know what he's like. Not yet. Sho was right. Sho said, before, that we couldn't let Mukai love Dad like he used to because Dad….Dad is a jerk. He acts like he loves you, he acts like you're the most important person in the world to him, like you're the most perfect person but…but then he decides that he doesn't like you. He just….Mukai is only three, she has her whole life to feel bad…" said Mob. Minegishi didn't moan, groan, or sigh. They just nodded. They tallied up all of their less but nice thoughts and nodded.

"Is that why you went to look for him? Because of Mukai?" asked Minegishi. They kept their thoughts to themselves. They didn't say a word about the fact that Mukai was only three and didn't know what she was saying half the time. They didn't say anything about the fact that Children's Day wasn't even a real holiday. They didn't say anything about the fact that if Mob had come to them then they would have told her to stay put because of course something like this…even Ryou could have seen something like this coming.

"Yes…she was sad and…and I think that I was sad too. I mean I love Mukai but Dad likes her better now and…and I should be happy. I should be happy because my Dad loves her but….but he can stop loving her at any time. Like how he stopped loving me." Said Mob

"Your Dad loves you." Said Minegishi. That time they did sigh. Mob…they loved her but she knew that her Dad still loved her. This was Suzuki. He kissed the ground she walked on.

"….I think he hates me now…" said Mob. She folded her hands and looked down. Minegishi didn't know where this was coming from. Sure Suzuki had hit her but it wasn't like he hadn't ever done that before. E was a violent asshole, that was just who he was fundamentally. Suzuki didn't hate her, though, if he had hated her than she wouldn't have been standing there right now. Minegishi knew full well what Suzuki did to people he hated. They had been responsible for carrying out a lot of…what he did to people he hated.

"He doesn't, Mob, he doesn't. I've seen what he does to people he hates and let me tell you, you don't want to know. If he hated you then you'd either have been dead by now or worse." said Minegishi

"But he said so…he told me that he hated the person I was becoming." Said Mob

"Why the fuck do you…Mob, stop caring about this and stop caring about him. If he wants to throw a worse tantrum than the ones his actual toddler throws then fuck him. Ok? So what if he hates the person you're becoming, he hates a lot of things. He probably wakes up every single morning, stares at the ceiling, and thinks really hard about what he's going to hate today. Your Dad is such…I don't even know with him….fuck him." said Minegishi

"But…." Said Mob

"No, no 'buts'. He doesn't get to make you feel like this. If he hates…what? Your hair again? Your clothes? The way you start ten glasses of milk a day and just leave them everywhere?" asked Minegishi

"Not the milk thing…and sometimes I forget where I leave my glass…sorry." said Mob

"It's fine. Ryou throws his pudding cups across the room when he's done with them. I can live with few glasses scattered around." Said Minegishi

"He likes pudding a lot…I think that when we're in Hong Kong we can go to this place that makes mango pudding. I mean I know that he likes chocolate but I think that he should eat other food groups too." Said Mob

"Ryou is a grown man, he can feed himself. I'm not worried about him, I'm worried about you." Said Minegishi

"Please don't worry about me….please. I don't want you to stop liking me…not again." said Mob

"I never stopped liking you. I was mad at you but it's fine now. I'm not mad anymore. The only person who's mad is your dad but he's a forty six year old child. I don't know why you even still care what he thinks of you." Said Minegishi

"…because he's my Dad…" said Mob. That somehow made all the sense in the world and no sense at all. Minegishi, twenty nine year old Minegishi, had no idea what Mob was going on about. She didn't need Suzuki. She was a powerful esper in her own right. She wasn't a toddler, if it came down to it she could live on her own and take care of herself. She didn't need Suzuki and she would have, in fact, been better off without her. Twenty nine year old Minegishi had lived long enough to have everything in perspective. But younger Minegishi, back when they had been young enough to know how Mob felt, eight year old Minegishi….that was right. Eight year old Minegishi knew how Mob felt. Eight year old Minegishi knew what it was like to love the terrifying, immature, giants that they had been at the mercy of. Mob…when Minegishi had been her age they had been out of the house and long past loving their parents…but they could still remember what it had been like….

Damn it, Mob.

"Mob….I love you, but…ok, I'm telling you this because I love you. You're not a kid anymore and your Dad has a real problem with that but unless you're going to start aging backwards there isn't anything that you can do about it. The most you can do is move on with your life. He doesn't hate you, you wouldn't be here if he hated you, so just…forget him. I know what it's like to have pieces of shit for parents, it's terrible, it's like…I spent a lot of my life wondering what was wrong with me, what I had done to them, and I don't want to see you wasting your life like that. Ok? You can do whatever you want and you can be whatever you want to be. Your life is your own. So fuck you Dad and whatever theatrics he feels like putting on." Said Minegishi

"But…ok. I get it…I mean I kind of…I'm trying to get it." Said Mob

"You'll get it when you get older." Said Minegishi

"Will I really? Because I…I don't know if I want to get it. I don't want to be an orphan." Said Mob. Minegishi raised the space where an eyebrow should have been. Well then…if Mob wanted to go there then they'd go there. Mob knew their story, she had seen the trees that remained of their father and mother, and…well if she thought she HAD to go down that road then alright. They'd go down that road with her.

"Just because I killed my parents doesn't mean that you have to kill yours…but if it comes down to it then I'll help you. You know I will….but we're going to have to wait until he gets too old to defend himself." Said Minegishi

"But I don't want you to kill anyone…I don't want to be an orphan…but I feel like one." said Mob. She had no idea what it felt like to be an orphan. If she had been an orphan then she wouldn't have been sitting in this bathroom moping. If she had been an orphan then she would have felt…light. Light and free. She would have felt free for the first time in her life….the world would have been bigger. It would have been huge but not terrifying. The world would have been brighter. The world would have been…better…

Mob didn't know what she was talking about….if she had then she would have felt better, not worse, at the thought of her father's death.

"You're not…and if by some miracle your Dad disowns you or something then it won't matter. You'll always have me, alright? If your Dad ever decides that he doesn't want you anymore then you can just change your name to Minegishi Shigeko. How's that sound?" asked Minegishi. They had never attached any real meaning in their family name. There were a lot of people in the world named Minegishi, it didn't matter. Not to them but to Mob…she was looking right a them. Her eyes were wide and filled with hope…

Alright then.

"Minegishi Shigeko?" asked Mob

"Exactly. It's a bitch to spell by the way but if you want it then you can have it." Said Minegishi

"I…I want it…if I need it." Said Mob

"Good. I'm glad we sorted that out. Now, do you still want me to dye your hair back?" asked Minegishi

"Yes…I still want that." Said Mob

"Alright then, let's get this over with." Said Minegishi. They didn't really want to dye her hair. Not because they were tired, not because they wanted to get back to their reading, but because Mob shouldn't have had to dye her hair. She shouldn't have had to jump through these kinds of hoops for the likes of Suzuki. Her hair was her own, her body was her own, and her life was her own too. She had the right to live her life however she so chose to live it. She should have…there were a lot of should of's…

Just because something 'should of' been didn't mean that it would be.